I love the four-phase empathy framework! This technique seems an effective and efficient way to get into the head of the persona. Beyond the realm of design, it would be a wonderful way for managers and administrators to build empathy for their employees.

I am inspired to use this exercise with my middle schoolers! Middle schoolers tend to be very self-obsessed and self-absorbed. This is an age at which teachers definitely need to help their students build empathy toward others.

As I was reading this article, I found myself thinking of the process of becoming immersed in a story, and thought of screenwriting and novel writing. So, I was very happy to see this statement. However, this may lead one to logically deduce that those of us that are not writing-oriented are at a disadvantage. I would argue, though, that one can gain the same character insights via reading fiction and that writing is not a requirement. Reading allows the reader to step into a very different world, building empathy for the characters, especially if the story is told in first-person rather than third-person. With the increased focus on building personas, I wonder if we will see a creative reading/writing component added to ID?

It is interesting that theorists "have begun" to approach education with an eye toward embracing HCI. Honestly, what took so long? Pre-school learning software has been available for decades! Video games are immensely popular (and have been) ever since Pong first entered families' households. YouTube has tutorials on literally anything you can imagine; I, personally, have used them for anything from removing my oven door to replacing the battery in my car key.

It is about time that theorists looked beyond their pedagogical towers to see what vehicles of instruction learners are seeking out on their own.

This is such an important point! I think that often designers, SMEs, coders...everyone involved in the design team can become so enthralled with and focused on their design, that they lose sight of the learner experience. It seems to me that true LXD requires that the design team set their egos aside and be flexible and open to change in order to provide the best and most effective learning experience for the learner. If the design itself induces frustration, the learner may give up and never get to the actual learning process. Designers need to strive for ease of use and provide design with limited barriers for the learner

I have seen the role of designer-ego play out in the real world. In my role as a virtual math teacher, my colleagues and I regularly reached out to the curriculum team to request a change to the virtual book, activities, or assessments in order to enhance our students' experiences. Too often, we were told no, with no regard for the learner.

My frustration with this led me to want to move into curriculum so that the learner's point of view would be better understood and represented. That is part of what led me to my current role in Gifted and to the ID program at UF.

I like the format of this persona example. It is well-rounded, including demographics, personal life, interests, finances, and mindset. Even though the age is vastly different from that of my students, I chose to use this as an example for my personas. I appreciate its thoroughness. Additionally, including an image of an actual person, rather than a drawing further humanizes the persona.

For this reason, I love the idea of pre-tests or pre-learning assessments...evaluate what your learners know and then move them forward to the point at which they need to learn more. If we could meet learners where they are, and have adaptive learning products to build on that knowledge, I think we could avoid the boredom and frustration that many learners experience.